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and in the resurrection of the dead. Finally, it also appears from Scripture that sanctification
affects all the powers or faculties of the soul: the understanding, Jer. 31:34; John 6:45; — the
will, Ezek. 36:25-27; Phil. 2:13; — the passions, Gal. 5:24; — and the conscience, Tit. 1:15; Heb.
9:14.
4. IT IS A WORK OF GOD IN WHICH BELIEVERS CO-OPERATE.
When it is said that man takes
part in the work of sanctification, this does not mean that man is an independent agent in the
work, so as to make it partly the work of God and partly the work of man; but merely, that God
effects the work in part through the instrumentality of man as a rational being, by requiring of
him prayerful and intelligent co-operation with the Spirit. That man must co-operate with the
Spirit of God follows: (a) from the repeated warnings against evils and temptations, which
clearly imply that man must be active in avoiding the pitfalls of life, Rom. 12:9,16,17; I Cor.
6:9,10; Gal. 5:16-23; and (b) from the constant exhortations to holy living. These imply that the
believer must be diligent in the employment of the means at his command for the moral and
spiritual improvement of his life, Micah 6:8; John 15:2,8,16; Rom. 8:12,13; 12:1,2,17; Gal.
6:7,8,15.
E. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SANCTIFICATION.
1. As appears from the immediately preceding, sanctification is a work of which God and not
man is the author. Only the advocates of the so-called free will can claim that it is a work of
man. Nevertheless, it differs from regeneration in that man can, and is in duty bound to, strive
for ever-increasing sanctification by using the means which God has placed at his disposal. This
is clearly taught in Scripture, II Cor. 7:1; Col. 3:5-14; I Pet. 1:22. Consistent Antinomians lose
sight of this important truth, and feel no need of carefully avoiding sin, since this affects only
the old man which is condemned to death, and not the new man which is holy with the holiness
of Christ.
2. Sanctification takes place partly in the subconscious life, and as such is an immediate
operation of the Holy Spirit; but also partly in the conscious life, and then depends on the use
of certain means, such as the constant exercise of faith, the study of God’s Word, prayer, and
association with other believers.
3. Sanctification is usually a lengthy process and never reaches perfection in this life. At the
same time there may be cases in which it is completed in a very short time or even in a
moment, as, for instance, in cases in which regeneration and conversion are immediately
followed by temporal death. If we may proceed on the assumption that the believer’s
sanctification is perfect immediately after death — and Scripture seems to teach this as far as